163-278.23. Duties of Executive Director of State Board.

The Executive Director of the State Board shall inspect or cause to be inspected each statement filed with the State Board under this Article within 30 days after the date it is filed. The Executive Director shall advise, or cause to be advised, no more than 30 days and at least five days before each report is due, each candidate or treasurer whose organizational report has been filed, of the specific date each report is due. He shall immediately notify any individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity that may be required to file a statement under this Article if:

(1) It appears that the individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity has failed to file a statement as required by law or that a statement filed does not conform to this Article; or

(2) A written complaint is filed under oath with the State Board by any registered voter of this State alleging that a statement filed with the State Board does not conform to this Article or to the truth or that an individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity has failed to file a statement required by this Article.

The entity that is the subject of the complaint will be given an opportunity to respond to the complaint before any action is taken requiring compliance.

The Executive Director of the Board of Elections shall issue written opinions to candidates, the communications media, political committees, referendum committees, or other entities upon request, regarding filing procedures and compliance with this Article. Any such opinion so issued shall specifically refer to this paragraph. If the candidate, communications media, political committees, referendum committees, or other entities rely on and comply with the opinion of the Executive Director of the Board of Elections, then prosecution or civil action on account of the procedure followed pursuant thereto and prosecution for failure to comply with the statute inconsistent with the written ruling of the Executive Director of the Board of Elections issued to the candidate or committee involved shall be barred. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prohibit or delay the regular and timely filing of reports. The Executive Director shall file all opinions issued pursuant to this section with the Codifier of Rules to be published unedited in the North Carolina Register and the North Carolina Administrative Code.

This section applies to Articles and [Article] 22M of [this Chapter of] the General Statutes to the same extent that it applies to this Article.